Temporary Architecture in a Pop Up City.

Uchronian “Belgian Waffle” built during the Burning Man Festival in 2006. Images via Flickr.

Burning Man 2010. Image via Flickr.

Helix Spire by Erich Remash and Chris Thomas. Image via Arch Daily.

Hello Again! We are still here blogging away while Dana and Husband globe trot. Thankfully they have been sent out into the ether on an expedition to bring back inspirational imagery of the design wares of Europe and indeed the world! Textile and Terrain promised to do a little babysitting. SO here goes…

Pop-up bars, cafes and shops are becoming more and more familiar in our cities. Sydney has just had the pleasure of the model of sustainability – Joost Café at the Rocks, which caused quite a stir! But really – this is small scale pop-up.

What if you created an entirely self sufficient temporary city in the middle of the desert, with no infrastructure to support it?

Well……it happenes every year in August/ September in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert for BURNING MAN!

For seven days, thousands of people from around the world, turn up on the playa, and build a “temporary metropolis dedicated to community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance. They depart one week later, having left no trace whatsoever”. The whole thing is totally mindblowingly gobsmacking!

I could write ten entries just on the art works, or the vehicles, or the social order, or the effect of the manifesto on the individual – however, I thought perhaps yellowtracers might be more intrigued by the temporary architecture of Burning Man.

How do you design a building/ structure that is solid enough to last a week in the Nevada desert, withstand massive sand storms and temperature variation, but light enough to be have all materials carried in, and then removed in just one week?? Imagine receiving that brief!

Clearly there are a bunch of people who say “Giddy up!” to that!!